Mich. student arrested after online teacher threat

Associated Press

December 21, 2012 - 11:10 AM

WATERLOO TOWNSHIP, Mich.
- A 16-year-old student in southern Michigan was arrested Friday after authorities said he threatened a teacher in an online posting, the latest clampdown on unruly students in the wake of last week's Connecticut school massacre.

The Jackson County sheriff's deputies arrested the Chelsea School District student Friday morning at home in Waterloo Township, about 60 miles west of Detroit, MLive.com reported. The sheriff's department said students and teachers weren't in danger.

The posting made "a very specific threat to a specific teacher in the district," the sheriff's department said in a statement.

Earlier in the week in suburban Detroit, a 16-year-old Fraser High School student was charged with making a false threat of terrorism after he told classmates Tuesday he would bring a gun to school on Friday, The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens reported.

Both cases are being handled in juvenile courts.

Many students were subject to increased police and security patrols at school on Friday, one week after the Connecticut shootings that left 20 students and six faculty members dead. In Michigan, more security was planned in the Brighton and Saginaw areas.

Officials in Jackson County earlier in the week increased patrols following a threat about a potential shooting at Springport Community Schools. In that case, a 17-year-old student was arrested and charged with making a false report or threat of terrorism.

In Oklahoma, meanwhile, the Caney Valley district in Washington County and Locust Grove district in Mayes County have canceled classes because of threats. Bartlesville schools canceled classes Wednesday following a threat and a separate report of a man with a gun near the school.

Dozens of Michigan schools canceled classes this week for thousands of students to cool off rumored threats of violence and problems related to doomsday scenarios based on the Mayan calendar. Friday is the day when some people believe ancient Mayan calendars predicted the world would end.